“Riddikulus with Elise & Sydney” is a column about the Harry Potter series. A new column is posted every other Wednesday. Columns may contain spoilers.
While muggle students are expected to excel in subjects such as English, math and history, wizarding children have an entirely different list of academic priorities.
Rather than having to recite the presidents in chronological order, young witches and wizards learn about the historical figures of their own world as well as practical skills such as Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions and Care of Magical Creatures.
This will be the start of a three-part series intended to give muggles a better idea of what a wizarding education entails. For the first installment, we will be featuring Harry Potter’s favorite subject: Defense Against the Dark Arts.
A history of the subject
Though the class is called Defense Against the Dark Arts, it also instructs its students on the offensive side of battle. For example, in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, Professor Lockhart and Professor Snape give Harry’s class a lesson on dueling other wizards.
Although this style of battle is much more formal than a cold-blooded battle would ever be, it proves to save Harry’s life repeatedly throughout the series.
Aside from training students to battle dark wizards, Defense Against the Dark Arts teaches witches and wizards how to defend themselves against various spells, cursed artifacts and creatures of dark magic.
Ironically enough, possibly their best Defense teacher, Professor Lupin, is a creature of dark magic: a werewolf. Despite his condition, he teachers Harry some of his most valuable lessons.
Unlike most classes at Hogwarts, Defense never attains a consistent teacher — not in Harry’s stay there, anyway. Each year, some odd or dangerous event causes the teacher to either resign, become incapacitated or get fired. Some students genuinely believe that the teaching position itself is cursed.
At various points in the series, the following teachers instruct Harry and his friends in Defense Against the Dark Arts:
1. Professor Quirrel, who turns out to have Voldemort growing out of the back of his head.
2. Professor Lockhart, who had faked his way to fame and actually knows nothing.
3. Professor Lupin, who resigns when people learn he is infected with lycanthropy.
4. Professor Moody, who is actually a Death Eater impersonating the real Mad-Eye Moody.
5. Professor Umbridge, who tortures students and has an obsession with pink and felines.
6. Professor Snape, originally a Potions teacher, who leaves to be a double-agent for Professor Dumbledore.
The professors’ lessons
While their individual styles are miles apart, all of Harry’s teachers manage to teach him something, even if it is not the intended lesson.
Even though Quirrel is essentially Voldemort, he still teaches Harry and his friends the basics of defensive magic — basics that they end up using for the rest of the series.
Since Lockhart knows virtually nothing about magic, his lesson is more practical. He teaches them that appearances are often not what they seem to be.
Under Professor Lupin’s instruction, the students gain a wealth of knowledge regarding dark creatures such as boggarts and grindylows. To Harry in particular, Lupin teaches the Patronus charm and serves as a link to Harry’s deceased parents.
While he is not the real Moody, the students’ fourth-year professor nevertheless prepares them to face some of the darkest, most sinister types of magic, as he gives them controversial lessons on the unforgivable curses.
Professor Umbridge, horrid woman that she is, teaches the students how to be brave and to persevere. This is certainly not her intention, but her medieval punishment methods and overbearing regulations prepare the students for the horrors that are to come.
Even though he is cruel, and is assumed to be on the side of Voldemort, Professor Snape is actually trying to teach the students to defend themselves against things he knew Voldemort was planning to use. Inferi, for instance, are introduced to the students under his instruction, and then seen later in the same book.
In the end, Defense proves to be Harry’s favorite subject. Not only is it practical for him, but he also excels in it. Without this class, he would have had to face the Dark Lord on talent alone. Instruction in this subject helps in defeating Voldemort and, in turn, saving the world.
For the previous installment, read the Jan. 26 column, Riddikulus with Elise & Sydney: Dementors.
